World Christian leaders have reacted positively to the proposal put forward by the World Council of Churches’ General Secretary Samuel Kobia this week.
Rev Kobia had made a call at the WCC’s 9th Assembly, currently taking place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, for the three leading worldwide Christian bodies to hold the next meetings of their highest governing bodies jointly.The President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), Clifton Kirkpatrick reacted, “I'm thrilled with the proposal of the general secretary that we look forward to a common global assembly.”
“This is an important step forward for the ecumenical movement and for as many Christian world communions to join us as wish to,” he said.
The recommendation had come from Kobia during his main address to the WCC’s Assembly this week, as he said, “The next assembly of the WCC should provide a common platform for the wider ecumenical movement.”
Backing the proposals was also Bishop Mark Hanson, President of the Lutheran World Federation, who told Ecumenical News International that the proposal “broadens the scope of the ecumenical movement and provides a way for Christian world communions to make a larger contribution to the wider ecumenical movement.”
Earlier in the week Kobia had said, “I propose that this assembly gives us a mandate to accelerate the dialogue with the LWF and WARC to explore possibilities of holding our next assemblies as a combined event. And we should also invite any other world Christian body to join us in this dialogue.”The WCC has more than 340 member churches, many of which also belong to Christian world communions such as the WARC and the LWF.
Thousands often gather for each of the individual body assemblies that take place every few years. The Lutheran World Federation held its last assembly in Canada in 2003 and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches held its 2004 meeting in Ghana.
Ishmael Noko, LWF General Secretary, referred to a previous statement by the LWF that a joint assembly would be desirable if held with the WCC. He said, “I am delighted by general secretary Kobia's positive response today.”
Setri Nyomi, WARC General Secretary also said that his group had contemplated the idea of a joint assembly in 1997, with the WCC entering informal discussions about a possible joint assembly the following year.
In addition, in 2005 the Reformed and Lutheran groupings discussed holding their next assemblies together, although the idea stalled in September when the LWF scheduled its next assembly for 2010 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Kirkpatrick said WARC was "disappointed" that the LWF made its assembly decision “on its own.”
Nevertheless, in October the WARC executive committee postponed a decision on its next assembly until 2007, saying it hoped “ecumenical possibilities may emerge.”
